Jon Jones’ “B” Sample Returns Positive For Same PED

On Friday, the U.S. Anti Doping Agency (USADA), the third-party agency the UFC hired last July to conduct year-round drug testing on all of their athletes, revealed Jones’ “B” sample contained the same banned substance(s) that his “A” sample had, which forced the UFC to pull Jones from Saturday’s title unification bout against light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 200.

The USADA did not reveal what illegal substance Jones had in his system. UFC president Dana White said this week that Jones was popped for two performance-enhancers.

During Thursday’s press conference, an emotional Jones denied any wrongdoing. Jones believes the illegal substance was contained in one of his supplements. Jones’ final hail Mary is if he can prove that one of his supplements is contaminated, like fellow UFC fighters Tim Means and Yoel Romero did earlier this year.

Jones is facing at least a two-year suspension if found guilty. Means and Romero each had their bans reduced to six months after it was determined their supplements were tainted.

Cormier will now face former UFC middleweight king Anderson Silva, who accepted the non-title light heavyweight scrap on just two days’ notice, at UFC 200. The show’s new featured attraction will be the women’s bantamweight bout between champion Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes.